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| Northern Kurdistan (Bakûr) | Articles; News related to NK, peace process, PKK and etc... | |
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| Topic Started: 21st November 2012 - 11:44 PM (1,315,226 Views) | |
| ALAN | 21st November 2012 - 11:44 PM Post #1 |
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North kurdistan or Bakûr population is 15-19 million  |
 
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| ALAN | 30th November 2012 - 08:20 PM Post #2 |
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November 30, 2012 When winter hits Turkey, the fighting between the Army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been going on for nearly thirty years now, tends to slow. The PKK is based in a mountainous region on the border with Iraq, and snow isolates its fighters—and creates new dangers for government forces. Earlier this month, seventeen Turkish soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in the mountains because of bad weather. This year may be different. Fighting was particularly intense this fall, and as a result, Henri Barkey, a Turkey expert at Lehigh University, says, “the PKK thinks it has some sort of momentum behind it, and [it] may not want to lose that.” The PKK changed its tactics during the fighting season—briefly occupying a town in the southeast—and may surprise this winter as well. There are gains to be made with nonviolence, perhaps. On September 12th, around sixty Kurds being held in Turkish prisons began a hunger strike. Over the ensuing months, the ranks of the hunger-strikers grew to a total of almost seven hundred inmates, plus countless ordinary citizens, and a handful of high-ranking Kurdish politicians. Their protest provoked mass demonstrations in Turkey and abroad, dominated Kurdish media, and inspired hope that there might finally be some break in the impasse in negotiations between Kurds and the Turkish government. Still, for the weeks that the strike lasted, it seemed that resolution was dependent on catastrophe: for it to end, someone would have to die. But then, suddenly, on the sixty-eighth day of the hunger strike, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, called for it to end, and it was over. Ocalan is in prison himself, on an island in the Marmara Sea—originally sentenced to death, he is now serving a life term after the death penalty was abolished, in 2002—and the strike was in part about him: the top demand was an end to his solitary confinement. Even from prison he exercises a stunning authority over the Kurdish community, something that has made him a key element of any possible negotiation, even while Turkish officials are more than reluctant to involve him. It was a suspenseful and worrisome two months, not only for supporters of the PKK and relatives of the prisoners but for Turkish and Kurdish officials as well. Even if they had led to negotiations and a larger settlement, deaths would still have been another blight on a region that has seen three decades of war. The end to the hunger strike is a victory for both sides,www.ekurd.net especially as both come out looking more humane: the government because it negotiated before people began to die, and the PKK because it engaged in a successful nonviolent protest. Concrete victories for the Kurdish side—they secured the right to speak Kurdish in court, and there are rumors, but no official confirmation, of an end to Ocalan’s solitary confinement—are also wins for the government. Fighting intensifies the stand-off, making negotiations more difficult, even if officials on both sides want them; the hunger strike may have eased these tensions. And Turkey needs negotiations. Forty thousand people have died in the war, and the public is fearful and exasperated. Furthermore, Turkey has to concentrate on what’s going on across its borders in Syria and Iraq, both of which have their own Kurdish populations. Throughout, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), took a hard line on the strike. Even as President Abdullah Gul showed sympathy, Erdogan dismissed the protest as “just a show” and started talking about reinstating the death penalty, an unsubtle message aimed at Ocalan himself. Erdogan originally campaigned for his job on the promise of a peaceful resolution with the Kurds and the PKK, but negotiations have over the past decade become a perpetual stand-off. His rigidity on the strike could have been a political maneuver; next year Turkey will elect a president for the first time, and there is speculation that Erdogan can get the job by appealing to conservative nationalists who are very tough on Kurdish rights. “Erdogan has tacked to the right as he builds a coalition,” Barkey said. “This is what is driving him now.” In some ways, Erdogan could afford to be callous: hunger strikes are not an uncommon form of protest in Turkey. In March I wrote about another strike, undertaken by eighty Kurdish mayors, which was more of a symbolic fast; the mayors lived for a few days on tea and water, and then went back to work. This latest demonstration was much more worrying. Prison-based hunger strikes are reminiscent of the nineteen-nineties, a decade of mass arrests and systematic torture that Kurds still fret about as if it is waiting just offstage for the moment to be right for its return. “The recent discourse of Erdogan sounds very similar to the nineteen-nineties,” Murat Somer, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University, said. “It is very difficult now for the government to look good and maintain this image as a pro-democracy government which wants to dissolve the Kurdish problem peacefully and enter the E.U. and strengthen democracy.” Erdogan might also be emboldened by a decline in the traditional solidarity between Kurds across national borders. Iraqi Kurds look forward to a bright future underwritten by untapped oil reserves and a friendship with the Turkish government. It’s a relationship that benefits both Ankara and the Kurdish Regional Government, but might come at the expense of Turkey’s Kurds (a subject I have been researching for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting). “It shows the modus operandi of the Turkish government toward the KRG,” Somer said. “The KRG is not supposed to interfere with Turkey’s domestic politics.” The change happened quickly. Last winter, when an earthquake destroyed the majority-Kurdish city Van, the KRG was faster to react than the Turkish government, and Iraqi Kurds used the opportunity to criticize Turkey’s approach to its Kurdish population. But it took KRG officials two months to issue a statement about the hunger strike. Erdogan also has the law on his side. Turkey has an extremely severe anti-terror law and, since 2009, a court case referred to as KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) has landed thousands of Kurds in prison on terrorism charges. The government considers the KCK the urban arm of the PKK, though those arrested are not guerillas but N.G.O. workers, politicians, lawyers, and activists. If the case is, as critics say, an effort to dismantle the Kurdish political community, it is working; the proof is that the hunger strike spread from prison to parliament before it ended. For prisoners, a hunger strike is a sort of nonviolent violence: an announcement of coming death. For politicians, it is a rejection of a democratic process that they presumably once believed in. Osman Baydemir, the mayor of Diyarbakir, is a hugely popular Kurdish politician. He and his wife, Reyhan, a human-rights lawyer, are tireless campaigners on Kurdish issues, which has made them celebrities and heroes throughout the community. Toward the end of the strike, Baydemir stopped eating. On his fourth day without food, Baydemir replied to my questions through Baris Alen, one of his staffers. “There have been times in the last eight years that I felt helpless in my position as mayor,” Baydemir wrote. “However concerning the hunger strikes, I have never felt as helpless … For me the result of this hunger strike will shape my future. I am at a crossroads; I have always been against armed opposition…. I have chosen civil disobedience. But I will apologize to my people if there are funerals coming out of prisons. I will criticize myself and I won’t be the mayor of Diyarbakir.” The strike itself was evidence of the limitations of Baydemir’s power—and the power of almost all other Kurdish politicians, no matter their popularity—and, too, that those limitations are there not only because of the Turkish government but also because of Ocalan and the PKK Baydemir was capable of joining the hunger strike, but not of calling it off; only one man has that kind of power, and he’s in solitary confinement in a prison on the Marmara Sea. Copyright © newyorker.com |
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| Qandil | 4th December 2012 - 11:17 PM Post #3 |
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Dutch police raid PKK meeting, hold 55 for questioning Dutch police raided a secret meeting of members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Netherlands early on Monday morning, and have held 55 people for questioning, the public prosecutor's office said in a statement. The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984 and is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. It has been banned in the Netherlands since 2007. A group of PKK members were meeting in a public park in Ellemeet, a village in the southwest of the country, at six in the morning when about 150 police raided the area, acting on a tip-off from the intelligence service, the prosecutors office said in its statement. The meetings had started on Friday and were expected to last a week, the prosecutor's office said, adding that the PKK recruits young Kurds in the Netherlands for its armed struggle against the Turkish army. Source: http://pukmedia.co/english/index.php/77/kurdistan/3299-dutch-police-raid-pkk-meeting,-hold-55-for-questioning Pfft. 
Edited by Qandil, 4th December 2012 - 11:17 PM.
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| ALAN | 4th December 2012 - 11:19 PM Post #4 |
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they love licking turkish balls
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| ALAN | 6th December 2012 - 08:06 PM Post #5 |
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Why Turkey is paranoid about the Kurdish role in the Middle East Turkey‘s real issue is not with the Syrian President Assad killing his people or concern about a lack of democracy in Syria. Rather, Turkey’s problem is with the Kurdish people. Actually, an authoritarian Assad was good for Turkey to oppress the Kurds and keep them silent, but Turkey realized that, if it does not go against Assad, Western powers will get rid of Assad sooner or later. Therefore, it is better for Turkey to help the opposition groups in the name of democracy, so that it can fight against the Kurds who do not have any kind of autonomous region in Syria and Turkey like they do in Iraq. Hoping to topple Assad, it wants to replace him and put one of its own people in charge, so that it can run Syria from behind the scenes. Since Turkey lost Iraq to Iran, which is dominated by the Shias, an Islamic sect that most Sunnis do not consider true Muslims but a cult religion, it remains opposed to the Shias. Assad’s father had killed ten thousand Kurds and he did not even grant them citizenship until the civil war began two years ago in Syria. The Kurds were granted Syrian citizenship but, before that, the Kurds did not have any identity or any citizenship. We have not heard any moral lessons from all these Muslim countries to tell Assad that Kurds should have citizenship, so nothing is new for the Turks, Arabs, and Persians who hate Kurds. Before the Arab Spring, Turkey had good relations with Syria, Iran, and Iraq just because their common enemy united them; the common enemy is the Kurds, not because Turkey really likes Iran or Arabs, but because they all want to be united against the Kurds. The common policy among the Persians, Turks, and Arabs concerning the Kurdish issue is that they are all opposed to the establishment of Kurdish states or to self determination. However, this changed with the Arab Spring. Kurds again are letting Arabs, Persians, and Turks use them for their national interests. Turkey was collaborating with Iran in 2008, joining an effort to fight against the PKK, the PJAK, and Syrian Kurds, but when the Arab Spring began and then quickly spread throughout the region, it ended collaboration against the Kurds. Turkey has changed its position and supports the Kurdish Autonomous Region using the religious Sunni card against the Shia-rule of Maliki, so that Turkey can continue to influence both. The Kurds are prone to forget what Turks, Persians, and Arabs did to them. Now the Kurdish Autonomous Region is designed by Turkish companies in terms of infrastructures, education, banks, schools, and hospitals. Consequently, Turkey is using an economic weapon to conquer the Kurds, one which the Kurds are now more dependent on. It does not make any sense for them to have fought for such a long time and not see what is happening to them. The reason the Kurds are the largest minority without a state is not only because of external and internal states, but also because the biggest obstacle is the Kurds themselves. The Kurds have not been united, and they too easily trust their adversaries. Why did Syria cause the worsening of the relationship between Turkey and Iran? The answer is threefold: to stop Iran’s access to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to bring about the fall of the Assad regime that will lead to the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood there, and to prevent Syria from continuing to be part of Iran’s block. The Arabs, Iranians, and Turks are using the Kurdish card against each other to counter their opponent’s domination of the Middle East. The Turkish Islamic government believes God has chosen the Turks to rule the region and that Turks are the only nation that can bring justice, peace, and love there. Maybe Erdogan and his other spiritual advisors had a revelation from Allah that it is justifiable to oppress, kill, and deny the basic rights of the Kurds. We all know what Saddam did to the Kurds in 1988, when he used chemical weapons against them, killing thousands and thousands of Kurdish people. We did not hear any U.N resolution nor did Turkey host any Kurds in Turkey or deploy its military along the Iraqi border to tell Saddam to stop killing the Kurds, but rather Turkey strengthened its relationship with Saddam and made agreements with his regime. By so doing, they gave Saddam moral support to continue killing and oppressing the Kurds. Not until the United States and its allies helped to give the Kurds some kind of haven in 1991, were they safe from the Arabian mad man. This establishment of a protected region was not because America or the West really cared about the Kurds either, but because they had national interests in the region. Therefore, Turkey is now saying that the world failed to stop America and the Western countries from giving the Kurdistan Autonomous Region to Iraq, and it will not let that happen in Syria. If the Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that spread across the Arab world in 2011, then it is common sense for the Kurds to have their own democratic rights in their home and also have rights to self- governance. If Kurds get their autonomy in Syria, they are not going to declare war on Turkey, so why is Turkey so paranoid about the Kurdish people’s self-determination? In Syria, Turkey claims it is fighting against the Assad regime and that is why it supports an armed free Syrian Army. The same thing is present in Turkey. Turkey claims that it is fighting against the PKK, that the KCK is a terrorist organization, and that it is fighting against them and not against the Kurds. That is a big lie. Turkey’s biggest problem with the Kurds is that it does not care whether Syria has democracy or not. Turkey is not a democratic country, so why would it care about democracy anyway? Still, journalists who criticize the Islamic missionary leader Gulen end up in jail. Those who criticize the government face heavy fines–students, academicians, elected government officials have gone to prison. Soon Turkey will have to build up its prison system, so that it can put all the Kurds there. External and internal forces have employed the Kurdish issue to weaken regional states in order to counter each other’s domination of the region. Turkey is an interesting country. An individual can criticize God without ending up in jail, but if someone criticizes Imam Fethullah Gülen, he will be imprisoned. If a person says, “I am Kurdish and I support Kurdish rights,” then that Kurd will be considered a terrorist and thus sent to jail. I think the Kurds need to change their strategy in terms of getting their rights. First, they must be united, no matter what. Second, the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq should financially help the Kurdish academics to open Kurdish studies or institutes in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Central Asia. Third, the Kurdish Autonomous Region should send representatives to China and Africa because that is the only way to internationalize the Kurdish issue. Fourth, it should lobby the international community to pressure Turkey to stop the aggression against the Kurds. Fifth, the BDP must focus more on Europe, and the United States should ally with them instead of putting so much energy into protests. Granted, protests should be used, but sometimes they help Turkey in that it uses the PKK to justify its oppression against the Kurdish people because internationally the PKK is considered a terrorist organization. To justify its cause and oppression, Turkey says it is fighting against the PKK, so the BDP needs to counter that, and the best way is to counter Turkey is to lobby internationally. Lacking a grand strategy and unity among themselves, the Kurds are preventing the establishment of a Kurdish autonomous region or a state. This autonomy continues to be feasible, but these factors prevent the Kurds from playing a greater role in the region. |
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| Kulka Kurdayati | 6th December 2012 - 08:24 PM Post #6 |
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bullshit
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Good article. Who wrote it? |
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| ALAN | 7th December 2012 - 01:36 AM Post #7 |
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It's on kurdish tribune. 
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| Brendar | 9th December 2012 - 11:21 AM Post #8 |
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Edited by Brendar, 10th December 2012 - 12:31 AM.
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| ALAN | 9th December 2012 - 02:18 PM Post #9 |
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. just remove what ever comes with the "&" so it will be , then you use the flash command, 350,500 and your done  .the result as below :-D |
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| ALAN | 16th December 2012 - 12:56 AM Post #10 |
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A new political party, Huda-Par, is coming to southeast Turkey to trim the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). The name of the new party can be translated as “Intention” or “On God’s Path.” The founders of the party hail from the banned NGO Mustazaf Der, which was a base of support for the Turkish Hezbollah. After Mustazaf Der was shut down, [its members] contemplated the idea of setting up a political party. They were first encouraged to do so by Khaled Meshaal of Hamas while he was based in Syria. The new party can be branded as an “Islamic-oriented Kurdish party.” Party founders did some serious research before going public, studying Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as their models. They also spoke to these respective group’s leaders. The banned Mustazaf Der was effective and widespread in the region. After the Danish cartoon affair they organized a “Respect to the Prophet” mass gathering that attracted a phenomenal crowd. Embassies in Ankara asked the Turkish government how the group could attract so many people. It is understood that Huda-Par will pursue a policy of religious unity instead of ethnicity. Some AKP votes are expected to shift to the new party, as will some from the BDP. This new party Kurdish party, which is based on religion instead of violent struggle, is now working to organize itself to participate in the next elections. Kurdish citizens who don’t march in the streets but who nevertheless vote for the BDP may well shift to Huda-Par. Late Turkish President Turgut Ozal once said: “Sadly, we have not succeeded in becoming a nation state. To preserve the unity of Turkey, religious brotherhood and the unifying features of Islamism are crucial for our [Kurdish] policy.” Until now, the AKP got the most votes in the Southeast region because its policies matched Ozal’s words. But fault lines are emerging. For example, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is now organizing alternative Friday prayers in an effort to enlist mosque congregations who share its ideology. But Huda-Par’s establishment is a more serious and effective approach to this population base. Both the AKP and the BDP will have problems. Here some paragraphs from an interesting article in the daily Taraf by Kurtulus Tayiz: “By emphasizing the lack of a solution to the Kurdish issue the new party will be going after the religious vote by making good use of Islamic sensibilities. I am curious what the new party will look like. Will it be like Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood? “I can’t find a place for Huda-Par among these models. I don’t think the comparisons of Fatah-Hamas or PKK-Turkish Hezbollah are realistic. They are certainly more inclined to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose popularity grew with the Arab Spring. Huda-Par could turn out to be an ethnic-based, civilian Islamic party. The social and cultural fabric of the Southeast is conducive to the development of such a political movement. “When we consider the influence of the PKK in the region, rivalry between Huda-Par and the Kurdish movement is inevitable. Even if the PKK says it could be flexible enough to enter into an alliance with Turkish Hizbullah, knowing their old animosities this will be very difficult. “These two groups will compete head on. The PKK will not easily allow an Islamic party to freely organize, develop and spread in the Southeast; it will do everything to impede its work. If not now, then soon the Kurdish movement will unsheathe its swords against Huda-Par. “As much as the BDP, the AKP too will lose votes in the Southeast. If the AKP as a ruling party cannot produce a solution to the Kurdish issue, religious votes may well shift to the new party instead of the BDP. We can predict that Huda-Par worries the BDP more than it does the AKP.” The AKP has to be creative enough to come up with new, appealing and unifying policies. Wait a minute. Why isn’t the main opposition [Republican People’s Party] in this new equation? www.ekurd.net |
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| RawandKurdistani | 16th December 2012 - 01:32 AM Post #11 |
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Surchi/Xoshnawi
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As long as they fight for Kurdistan, they could might as well be a whole bunch of satanists or racists. Anything is better than the turkish regime. |
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| ALAN | 17th December 2012 - 12:21 PM Post #12 |
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For nearly 30 years the Kurdish guerrilla group PKK, classified by the U.S. and the EU as terrorist group, has been fighting from their base in the Kandil Mountains of KRG for the recognition of the Kurdish identity in Turkey. More than 35 million Kurds, the largest ethnic group without a state of their own, live in the four-country corner of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Usually relentlessly pursued by their own countries Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi militias are fighting alongside the PKK against their own governments. In March 2012, I went on a tour of KRG to visit various groups. It all started with a visit to one of Iranian Kurdish refugee camps in which Kurds from the Iranian-Iraqi border area have been living for over 20 years from . Most residents have given up any hope of a return, only armed resistance remains as a choice for them. Afterwards I visited the PKK in the Kandil Mountains in the wake of the Kurdish-Persian New Year, Nowruz. As many as 20,000 civilians from the region, including Yazidis, Christians and Arabs, expressed their solidarity with the PKK through their visit. The guerrilla group is correspondingly still strongly anchored in the regional population – and so can continuously fill their ranks with new fighters. This is especially so since peace talks with the Turkish AKP seems to have receded into the far distance. At the end of my stay I traveled to the Iranian border with the Iranian Kurdish PJAK guerrillas, an offshoot of the PKK. There I accompanied the guerrillas with my camera during their daily rounds – as well as being under the constant threat of bombardment by Iranian artillery or Turkish warplanes. Civilian structures in the region are often attacked – as evidenced by destroyed school.As all the inhabitants of the Qandil Mountains seem to be “terrorists” in the eyes of Iran and Ankara, no distinction between combatants and civilians is made. Benjamin Hiller was born in 1982 into a German-American family. He began to engage himself with journalism, culture and photography quite early on. After several semesters of studying anthropology in Heidelberg (with emphasis on ritual dynamics and visual anthropology) and a classical trade school training in photography, he began an independent career as a freelance photojournalist in 2008. Since then he has concentrated his efforts on the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, and generally in conflict journalism in the Near- and Middle-East. His photographs and articles have been published in national and international newspapers and magazines. He is currently living in Berlin. |
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| Qandil | 22nd December 2012 - 05:21 AM Post #13 |
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Murad Karayilan: In strong position we seek for a peaceful solution At the upcoming of the first anniversary of massacre of Roboski villagers, the president of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Murad Karayilan asked that those responsible of this crime must be prosecuted. Karayilan in an exclusive interview with Firatnews agency said; the position of Turkish government regarding massacre of Roboski villagers has showed the Turkish occupation policy about Kurds. He said; the massacres of Dersim, massacres during Sheix Seid revolution, Sasus, Zilan, etc. all were committed in the similar way. In the tragedy of Roboski, the Turkish government has repeated its former policies; despite all the protests, while they have not revealed the details of this massacre, they even did not apologize. Karayilan, asked that this crime, was committed in front of the eyes of the international community, thus, it should be prosecuted at the international level. In addition, in this interview the president of KCK in relation to the unexpected death of Turgut Ozal, the former president of Turkey said, leader Apo was the first person who said the death of Ozal was unnatural and he was murdered. Because, at the time of Ozal´s death, there was a ceasefire between PKK and Turkey, and Ozal had a prominent role, Karayilan said. Karayilan notes that Turgot Ozal was killed by the order of powers behind the scene of Turkish regime, the risk that Ozal was aware of it, but as he once said he admitted it to achieve his goal. Furthermore, Karayilan by citing the process of solving Kurdish solution in 1993 reminded that thousands of Kurdish civilians were murdered in mysterious circumstances. It is clear that these killings were committed by the Turkish regime and if they want to reach a meaningful result they should refer to the events of 1993. In this interview, the president of KCK about the calls of the liberation movement of Kurdistan (PKK) for ceasefire, said when we speak about peace, some people think that we are begging it but we are not in a weak position at all. The only reason for our calls is that we believe to the peace and brotherhood between nations, if not, the movement of PKK is able to achieve freedom for its nation by waging war. We have this ability but we are looking for a peaceful solution, Karayilan said. While addressing the Turkish regime, Karaiylan said, when we take step for solution of the problem, you should welcome this and cooperate with us. We ended the mass hunger strike in prisons but the prime minister fueled tensions. Now they have more expectations from us and fastened more the belt of occupation, this is unacceptable. In reaction we call all to support stronger the liberation movement. Source: http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=4708 |
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| RawandKurdistani | 22nd December 2012 - 08:35 PM Post #14 |
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Surchi/Xoshnawi
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A wonderful article kak Kurdistani. 
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| Qandil | 26th December 2012 - 03:16 AM Post #15 |
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Turkish minister reveals prison conditions of PKK leader Imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan is allowed to spend five hours a week with other inmates, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said when describing the convicted PKK leader’s prison conditions in response to a question from an opposition deputy, daily Milliyet has reported. Ergin provided a detailed report on how Öcalan is treated in prison and his daily schedule. According to Ergin, Öcalan is allowed to spend five hours a week with other inmates. He is allowed full use of the prison’s library, which consists of nearly 2,236 publications. However, Öcalan has no television in his cell. About 39 officials work at the prison where Öcalan is currently staying. The same kitchen provides meals for both inmates and officials, according to Ergin's statement. Öcalan was convicted with a life sentence and is currently imprisoned on İmralı Island. Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-minister-reveals-prison-conditions-of-pkk-leader.aspx?pageID=238&nID=37601&NewsCatID=339 |
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| ALAN | 27th December 2012 - 02:47 AM Post #16 |
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 ANKARA/DIYARBAKIR,— Kurdish politician, former minister, the leader of Participatory Democracy Party (Katılımcı Demokrasi Partisi – KADEP), and independent Diyarbakir Deputy, Serafettin Elci, 74, died of cancer at Medicana Hospital in capital Ankara on Tuesday night, DHA news reported. The late deputy of Diyarbakir province, who had entered the Parliament in 2011 general elections, had been receiving treatment for the disease that he was diagnoses with a while ago. Pro-Kurdish independent members of the parliament, Leyla Zana, and Aysel Tuğluk, and Peace and Democracy (Baris ve Demokrasi Partisi – BDP) deputies Pervin Buldan, Hasip Kaplan, and Sırrı Sakık were among the people who rushed to the hospital after the news. President Abdullah Gul issued a statement of condolence after the death of the politician. “The absence of Serafettin Elci,www.ekurd.net who worked hard for solution of problems via dialogue, and for consolidation of an environment of peace and brotherhood, will always be felt in our world of politics,” said President Gul in his message. Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, dha.com.tr |
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| Qandil | 27th December 2012 - 08:51 AM Post #17 |
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Duran Kalkan: 2013 will witness a remarkable increase of both military and political struggle ANF, — In an interview to ANF about recent political developments in Kurdistan, Turkey and the Middle East, Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council member Duran Kalkan said that 2013 will witness a remarkable increase of both military and political struggle which will affect everyone in a deeper, more complexed way. Kalkan pointed out that the Kurdish movement will represent a revolutionary movement in ideological, political, military in the coming year which he underlined will also witness democratic autonomy in all parts of Kurdistan becoming a reality and progress of the freedom revolution in North Kurdistan. Remarking that the war in Kurdistan is becoming a regional conflict affecting the whole area both politically and militarily, Kalkan stated that Turkey’s democratization and the solution of the Kurdish problem are no more a matter to be dealt with Turks and Kurds alone. “A political negotiation in Syria will affect Turkey as well and force the global system to decide on how the process will progress. On the other hand, a conflict in Syria will also leave Turkey and Kurdistan in the midst of a war, and this will make the solution of the Kurdish issue and Turkey’s democratization depend on this war. A war in which all world powers will be drawn to. When this is the case, the problems will reach a regional and global dimension and bring along a more complicated period”, he underlined. Kalkan noted that Kurds will always be ready for inclusive political negotiations and solution on the basis of a permanent solution to the conflict in the Kurdish region and the Middle East and added; “However, in consideration of the probability of a wider conflict, we are making preparations for a military struggle to ensure a free future for Kurds. Kurds need to have enough power to defend themselves in the event of a conflict, war or massacre”. Source: http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=4737 |
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| ALAN | 27th December 2012 - 11:59 AM Post #18 |
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The role of the Obama administration in suppressing the long-running Kurdish uprising in Turkey is largely unknown. But a few weeks ago a U.S. diplomat dropped an intriguing clue. Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., Obama's ambassador to Turkey, revealed that the U.S. had secretly offered Turkey what was, in effect, a bin Laden-style assassination of the top leadership of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), the rebels who have been fighting the U.S.-equipped Turkish army since 1984. "Your enemies are our enemies," Ricciardone told Turkish reporters at a news conference in Ankara. "The power of the multidisciplinary approach is what got bin Laden in the end, and we would like to share that and exploit that intimately." When I heard the ambassador's remarks, I had just left Syria, where a different Kurdish group is struggling for its own autonomy. I was en route at the time to Mt. Qandhil, one of the highest mountains in neighboring Iraq, where PKK rebels have a sanctuary. I was seeking reaction to news that Turkey was quietly negotiating with Abdullah Ocalan, the notorious PKK founder who was captured in 1999 with U.S. assistance, and who since then, has become a cause célèbre with many Kurds in the Middle East. The 28-year-old Kurdish uprising in Turkey has resulted in 40,000 deaths, most of them Kurds. The U.S. considers the PKK a terrorist group, but experts say both the rebels and Turkish troops have committed human rights abuses. Today, the struggle goes beyond military conflict. Since 2009, some 8,000 Kurdish civilians have been arrested in Turkey. That includes lawyers and at least 100 journalists -- more than in Iran or China. This fall, some 700-1,000 prisoners went on hunger strike in Turkey, demanding that Ocalan be removed from solitary confinement and that Kurds receive broadcasting rights, education in their native tongue and ethnic recognition in the Turkish constitution. Turkey claims that most of the prisoners have ties to the PKK, but according to Human Rights Watch, many Kurds were arrested in a "crackdown on legal pro-Kurdish politics." Against this backdrop came Ambassador Ricciardone's startling disclosure: the administration's misguided proposal to target the Kurdish rebel leadership. In fact, the PKK is not al-Qaeda, nor has it targeted Americans -- and Turkey wisely rejected the U.S. offer. "Bin Laden was caught in a house," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sought to explain diplomatically, "but the struggle here is in mountainous geography." After rebuffing the assassination proposal, Turkey successfully negotiated an end to the vexing hunger strike, which had garnered considerable support in southeast Turkey, where most of the country's 15 million Kurds reside. Had the cockamamie scheme succeeded, the killings would likely have turned Kurdish public opinion against the U.S. and given the rebels a powerful recruiting tool. This is not the first effort by a U.S. administration to suppress the Kurdish uprising in Turkey. In 1999 the Clinton administration secretly used FBI agents to track and help capture Abdullah Ocalan. For its part, the Obama administration has been helping the Turks fight the PKK for some time by sharing military technology and intelligence. But American participation in the conflict received little attention until a year ago when a U.S. drone mistakenly identified Kurdish civilians as rebels, resulting in the deaths of 35 villagers. The assassination offer came at a delicate moment in Turkish-Kurdish relations and, while it might have wiped out the PKK's top command, it exposes how out of step the Obama White House is with the aspirations of ordinary Kurds in the Middle East. There are 30 million Kurds in the region, spilling over the borders of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. Despite U.S. foreign policy to the contrary, many Kurds in these countries support the PKK and the age-old Kurdish dream of a unified homeland. In Syria, where the Kurds number two million, "Apo" -- as PKK leader Ocalan is widely known -- now enjoys a cult-like status. That is partly because Syrian Kurds overwhelmingly back the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, a PKK ally. But the deeper reason is that local Kurds, like those in Turkey and Iran, are simply fed up with generations of second-class citizenship. With the Arab opposition to the Assad regime badly fragmented, many Kurds believe they will emerge as a winner in Syria's bloody civil war. Despite all odds, they cling to the belief that autonomy -- a "Kurdish Spring" as some call it -- is coming. In one Syrian town this fall, I counted about 700 protesters in the streets. Young and old, they spoke Kurdish, played Kurdish music and wore traditional Kurdish clothing; many carried Kurdish flags or photos of Ocalan. Just a short time ago, such behavior would have landed them in jail -- or worse. Across the Tigris River in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the economy is still booming in the wake of the popular U.S. invasion, Ocalan has a strong following. I have heard people in shops and tea houses there refer to the imprisoned rebel leader as "Nelson Mandela" -- but, of course, not everyone agrees. "I don't like Apo's ideology," Mohammed Haji Mahmoud, an elected parliamentarian in the Kurdistan Regional Government, told me. Still, he cautioned the U.S. not to underestimate Ocalan's appeal: "If Apo ran for president in Turkish Kurdistan," Mahmoud said, "He'd be elected by acclaim." And Iran? The case of PEJAK, the Iranian Kurdish guerrillas who share territory with the PKK on Mt. Qandhil, is instructive. The PEJAK group wants regime change in Tehran, just as many officials in Washington do. But the rebels view Ocalan as a freedom fighter, not a terrorist. As I approached Mt. Qandhil, my fixer advised me to remove the battery from my cell phone, lest we become a target for a U.S. drone. That seemed a little paranoid, but it made me think about all the Kurdish uprisings -- including the current one -- that have taken place in these lands over the last century. Military "solutions," like the recent one proposed by the Obama administration, have failed to solve the Kurdish question, but there still may be a chance for diplomacy. The next time the Kurds raise legitimate grievances, the U.S. should urge negotiation, not assassination. In 21 years of traveling to the region, I have never met a Kurd who didn't like Americans. It seems a pity to squander that good will. Kevin McKiernan is a journalist and filmmaker. He directed the PBS film Good Kurds, Bad Kurds and is the author of the book The Kurds: A People in Search of Their Homeland. His report on the Kurds in Syria appeared this month in the Santa Barbara Independent. |
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| ALAN | 30th December 2012 - 12:41 PM Post #19 |
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Prime Minister Erdoğan, as you are well aware, the long-standing Kurdish struggle for autonomy has remained a constant issue in Turkish national politics. Kurdish history is dominated by the unending fight for self-determination and recognition of a distinct ethnic identity within the Turkish community. However, Kurds have continuously been marginalized, scrutinized, and disrespected within Turkish borders, a place they have long considered home. Growing up in the United States as a Kurdish- American, I have long asked myself: Is being Kurdish bad? Why can’t my family in the Middle East embrace openly their Kurdish identity? Why do I have to tell people that I am a Kurd from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, or Iran? That there essentially is no legitimate “Kurdistan.” No person should ever feel the need to question their very being. Everyone is entitled to their unique identity and should be proud of their heritage. Mr. Prime Minister, you have been in office since 2003, accepting the responsibility to safeguard the interests of the Turkish citizens, but what about the Kurds? Indeed you have mentioned occasionally that the Kurdish issue needs to be resolved and that you are in the process of launching new initiatives to meet the demands of the Kurdish people. However, I have yet to see great improvement or a genuine fulfillment of those promises you made during your first few years in office. There is a large and growing population of Kurds in Turkey numbering to about fifteen million, but still they face daily persecution, intimidation, and subjugation. In this day and age these types of unjust acts towards Kurds are in no way acceptable. Mr. Prime Minister, the Turkish government continues to fuel the long standing war between Turks and Kurds. But this is not a war between good and evil as it has been depicted throughout the Turkish-Kurdish history; it is a war between right and wrong. What is right is that human rights and freedom of mankind is a right of all persons, what is wrong is prohibiting that right and oppressing those who demand it. All labels aside, we all are people whose man-made desire is to live and enjoy the beauty of life and the essence of freedom. As Kurds we want to live, not merely exist. Mr. Prime Minister Erdoğan, I am writing to you adding my voice to that of the Kurdish people and telling you that the Kurds should be granted the southeastern provinces of Turkey as their own autonomous state. Kurds are without question the largest minority in Turkey and their presence will only grow with time. If granted autonomy, Turkey will be seen as a more democratized state, breaking pre-established conceptions of the Middle East. Turkey can put a new meaning to the word, democracy. Mr. Prime Minister, you have noted on numerous occasions that entry into the European Union is a top priority. However given the endless list of human rights abuses that Turkey has committed, the unwillingness to respect minorities, and the reluctance to fully meet the EU’s Acquis Communautaire [1]; accession into the EU will continue on its unsuccessful path. Thus, by granting autonomy to the largest minority in the country, EU membership will not be the only door of opportunity that will open to Turkey. Mr. Prime Minister, it is important to start looking at the Kurdish people as an asset to Turkish-Kurdish prosperity; not as PKK militants [2]. As you know, the southeastern provinces of Turkey are regarded as hostile Kurdish communities. It is home to extreme acts of violence, PKK operations, and mass killings. On the flip side, it is also a region rich in resources, fruits, minerals, culture, and history. It is truly in Turkey’s best interest to grant Kurds the southeastern provinces as their own autonomous state which would in effect dissolve long existing hostilities,www.ekurd.net war, and violence. Turkey would be attracting positive international attention and recognition which in effect would bring tourism to the Kurdish state and foreign investment into Turkey. In addition, it is worth noting Turkeys’ current annual trade of ten billion US Dollars with Kurdistan Iraq. A decision made on part of the Turkish government, realizing the extent of change and wealth that investment in Kurdistan Iraq would bring to Turkey. Thus today Kurdistan Iraq is Turkey’s second largest trading partner; just imagine what a Kurdistan Turkey would do for the country. The social, economic, and political prospects for Turkey would truly be unlimited. It is almost hard to believe that with such obvious benefits that the Kurds would bring to Turkey; they are still treated as second class citizens and a supposed threat to national security. Mr. Prime Minister, you once stated, “we are determined to solve the [Kurdish] issue despite provocations and sheer campaigns against the government” (What Challenges lie ahead for Turkey?). Clearly, you see that ending this battle is imperative however Turkey continues to spend billions of dollars in military, logistics, and arms to fight Kurdish rebels. Your government had even said that they have lost 300-400 billion dollars in lost productivity due to this war and nearly 30,000 people have died” (How Much More will Violence Escalate in Turkey). It is illogical to waste all this money, time, and risk the lives of Turkish citizens in the name of Turkish nationalism. We all agree that this money should be put forth towards a more useful investment; the economy. Fortunately, according to the New York Times, you managed to help bring Turkey an economic growth of 8.9 percent (Spanner); but as a country that is increasingly dependent on foreign investment, an extension of Kurdish violence to urban areas in Turkey could have serious implications on Turkey’s social and economic sector. Thus putting an end to the war, withdrawing arms, and re establishing a dialogue process on the Kurdish issue must be organized. It has been proven time and time again that the solution cannot be made militarily; violence is a hindrance to any political settlements. Turkey must rely more on diplomacy and not be too quick to resort to war as a means towards conflict resolution. Thus, my opinion would be to revamp talks with Kurdish and Turkish leaders and representatives. At this conference, Kurds should be granted autonomy without question and PKK militants who did not commit crimes should be granted amnesty and allowed to integrate into society as individuals; this would eliminate time wasted on civil trials. In addition, you had mentioned vaguely that you were going to fix the Turkish constitution but the question lies with whether you are going to fix it to provide full equality to citizens other than Turks- like the Kurds. The ambiguity and contradictory language on which Turkish policy is based in respects to the Kurdish issue is not helping to resolve it. The Turkish government should make clear its intentions on ratifying the constitution in line with European standards and the Copenhagen criteria. The reformed constitution should include minority rights, peace between Turks and Kurds alike, and a reaffirming of human rights as a whole. Such ratification would bring Turkey closer to EU membership and full democratization of the state. By granting Kurds autonomy the following sequential events would be almost inevitable: • Turkey’s economy would skyrocket and tourism would bring increasing foreign investment especially from Russia and China. • Violence and Kurdish hostilities would dissolve • PKK operations against the Turkish government would cease • Turkey would be regarded internationally as a unique exemplar of democracy by abiding by western values and human rights • Foreign relations would improve and Turkey could very well claim a position as one of the world super powers • Ratification of the constitution would provide a solid foundation for a sustained development of democracy in Turkey • Talks with the EU would be renewed and European Membership would be realized The potential benefits to Kurdish autonomy are well within Turkey’s breach, the only thing that is stopping Turkey from obtaining a newfound prosperity is the failure of the Turkish Government to act swiftly and decisively to resolve the Kurdish issue. Since your entering into office in 2003, the Kurds have had high expectations genuinely believing that you could bring equality and autonomy to the Kurds. Nevertheless, Mr. Prime Minister, you have had about nine years to resolve the Kurdish issue, and your promises to launch initiatives to secure some form of autonomy for Kurds have yet to be realized. No more wasting time and allowing more people to die, violence to rise, and Turkeys international reputation to damage. The time to act is now. The promises you publicly made to the Kurds are yet to be completely fulfilled and indeed you have made efforts to ease restrictions on Kurdish rights; but even that is not enough. You allowed for Kurdish classes to be a part of the government policy to ease restriction on its use. However, according to the Turkish constitution, education is not to be in any other language but Turkish (The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey). In order for Turkey to gain the trust of the Kurds and safeguard the peace and stability of the country, a reforming of the constitution is critical and the realization of the rights to equality of minorities is imperative. You ruled out Kurdish education in the mother tongue and explained that the government has done its duty with Kurdish classes in schools and universities. In addition, the Kurd’s demand to teach and learn in Kurdish was dismissed as a terrorist demand of the PKK. Mr. Prime Minister, Turkey needs to separate the PKK problem from the Kurdish problem and then hopefully Turkey’s wishes and demands will be respected. You had noted that, “the Kurdish question can be solved not by those who hug terrorists, but by those who hug the nation” (What Challenges lie ahead for Turkey). Indeed, this is valid however if Turkey wishes for the PKK to demilitarize and disarm then Turkey as a nation must fulfill its promises of Kurdish rights to autonomy; only then will the hopes and dreams of the Kurdish people be achieved and the Kurdish -Turkish relationship grow strong. Respectable Prime Minister, Turkey has neglected to fully resolve the Kurdish issue and as a result Kurds are turning to acts of protest which is little by little eating away at Turkey’s reputation as a young democratized state. According to BBC, Kurdish prisoners in various jails in Turkey were not too long ago rejecting to eat solid food, demanding the Turkish government to allow Kurdish to be used in education and in legal systems. Protesters also called for the release of PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who was captured and sentenced to life in solitary confinement (Kurds Clash with Turkish Police over hunger strikers). It is events like these that are brewing at the core of Turkey and soon it will explode into an all out secular war. Mr. Prime Minister, Turkey have made minor changes to Kurdish human rights including the free publication of newspapers, TV, and radio to be published in Kurdish. This is fine, but not enough. Kurds want full equal rights to be Kurds in Turkey and have their own state within the country. By neglecting to resolve and defuel the hostilities and conflicts, Turkey is setting the foundation for unending strife and battle between Turks and Kurds everywhere. Conflicts are already evident in Syria where Kurds are organizing an army, aligning with the PKK, and preparing for an all out secular war after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls. This is a historical opportunity for the Kurds to finally achieve independence and they are working strategically and in unity to make “Kurdistan” a realization. If Kurds in Syria succeed, they will influence greatly the events to come in Turkey’s Kurdish dominated southeastern provinces. You once stated, “I will never tolerate initiatives that would threaten Turkey’s security” (Hacaoglu). However by suppressing the Kurds and being unresponsive to their demands, such comments alone are threatening Turkey’s security and reputation. Time is running out, Kurds are uniting slowly but surely and the Turkish government has yet to come to terms with the old Kurdish issue. People all over the world no longer fear their government, and as witnessed by the Arab Spring, people are not afraid to rise up and protest in huge numbers in order for their demands to be met. Thus soon, your governments voice will be less respected or needed since Kurdish autonomy in Syria will inevitably lead to Kurds in Turkey to establish the same. This will result in greater and more brutal acts of protest and war, the situation as a whole would prove disastrous for the nation. Turkey will suffer greatly financially, death and casualties will be profound, and destruction will be insurmountable. By suppressing Kurdish autonomy, Turkey is fueling Kurdish hostilities and providing for the motivation towards a “Kurdish spring.” Depending on how the prospects in Syria turn out, Turkey will be forced to face the Kurdish domestic issue and will have to accept the consequences of not working earlier and more democratically to solve the Kurdish- Turkey conflict. Sooner or later, with or without your help and the cooperation of the Turkish government, Kurds will achieve autonomy. Whether Turkey is willing to have a say in democratizing and easing this task is the real question. No one, no matter their political, social, or legal status has the right or the authority to restrict a fellow human being their individual rights. Everyone has the right to self determination and their own distinct ethnic identity. One should be able to speak their mother tongue without fear of persecution and to live freely without intimidation or subjugation from one’s own government. No one deserves to be treated any less than the God given rights pre disposed upon birth. Basic human rights have been kept from the Kurds for such a long time and even after entering into an era of modernity and diplomacy; violence, conflict, and death continue to be normal aspects of life for the Kurdish people. Today, Kurdish oppression and marginalization have been priorities in Turkish national policy. The Turkish government has spent billions of dollars and lost many Turkish soldiers during battles with the Kurds, specifically PKK militants. Mr. Prime Minister, if the Turkish government thinks that killing PKK militants is going to suppress the Kurdish people and eliminate the Kurdish issue, Turkey is severely mistaken. Separate from the PKK, Kurds no matter their status will fight for equality and autonomy and this will carry on generation after generation until the Kurdish plea is answered. It would be of mutual interest for the Kurds and the Turkish government to organize a dialogue in which both parties work to resolve the Kurdish-Turkey issue together. During these talks one demand is to be met: an autonomous Kurdish state in the southeastern provinces of Turkey. Upon granting the Kurds autonomy, the PKK fighters who committed no crimes will be promised amnesty and will dissolve into equal members of society. This is the only solution that will allow for peace and a cessation to war and violence. This would be a huge historical step towards democratization by Turkey and would open many doors of opportunities. An autonomous Kurdish state in Turkey would guarantee the following: a reviving of the likelihood of EU membership, economic prosperity, foreign investment, tourism, an end to the PKK, closer ties between neighboring countries, international recognition, and most of all the trust and support of the Kurds everywhere. The prospects are truly unlimited in possibility and can only be made a realization when and if Turkey is willing to democratically hold a dialogue with the Kurds. Mr. Prime Minister, if your government continues to neglect resolving the Kurdish issue; war, conflict, violence, and bloodshed will not cease but grow stronger. Turkey’s policies are putting the Kurds in a corner without any escape route which has in result caused mass rebellion against your government. By trapping the Kurds, Turkey is committing one of the worst military strategies in history. Today the consequences can be seen in various ways across the Middle East, which is catching up to Turkey. The Kurds have already established a semi autonomous state in Iraq, and currently Kurds are uniting to ensure their own state in Syria near the Turkish border as well. Bigger dilemmas are on the rise with Kurdish prisoners starving themselves in demand for freedom of language, accession into the EU is growing dim, and PKK militants are striking Turkish militia more frequently and adding to the millions of casualties and deaths already caused. Kurdish hostility against the Turkish government is growing deeper and is eating at the core of Turkish stability. By keeping Kurds from achieving autonomy, the Turkish government is doing a huge disservice to the well being of the country politically, domestically, financially, and internationally. It has already been established that there is a Kurdish issue; the question today is whether you, Honorable Prime Minister Erdoğan, are willing to take part in the Kurds inevitable achievement of autonomy. I conclude with the following quote by Martin Luther King Jr. “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” With or without your help, Kurdish independence will become a realization, but In order for Turkey to enjoy the fruits of its success, Turkey must act quickly to foster a democratic approach to Kurdish autonomy. Otherwise there will be endless war and growing Turkish instability. [1] Accession criteria that the European Union obligates all candidate countries to meet before full membership into the EU. [2] PKK is known as the Kurdistan Workers Party. It is a Marxist-Leninist separatist organization founded by Abdullah Ocalan in 1974. [3] Goodman, Leslee. “A Warrior Turned Activist.” Koream. 8 June 2011. Koream Journal, 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. Works Cited Goodman, Leslee. “A Warrior Turned Activist.” Koream. 8 June 2011. Koream Journal, 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. Hacaoglu, Selcan. “Turkish Minister to meet Iraqi Kurds over Syria.” Star Tribune. 1 August 2012. Associated Press, 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. “How Much More Will Violence Escalate in Turkey?” euronews-International News. 27 September 2012. euronews, 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. “Kurds Clash with Turkish Police over hunger strikers.” BBC. 30 Nov. 2012. BBC, 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. Spanner, Johan. “Turkey.” The New York Times. 14 Nov. 2012. New York Times Company, 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. “The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey.” Hellenic Resources Network. HR-Net, 1995-2012 . Web. 19. Nov.2012. “Turkey military drill on Syria border eyes Kurds.” The Guardian. 1 August. 2012. Guardian News and Media Limited, 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. “What challenges lie ahead for Turkey?” Al Jazeera. 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. Evin Cheikosman, a Kurdish Students, University Project - for Ekurd.net Copyright © 2012 Ekurd.net |
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| ALAN | 1st January 2013 - 09:27 PM Post #20 |
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December 31, 2012 ANKARA,— Turkey's intelligence agency has discussed the issue of disarmament with the jailed Kurdish leader in a bid to bring an end to the nearly three-decade old insurgency, a newspaper reported on Monday. Officials from the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) held a four-hour meeting with Abdullah Ocalan on December 23 to urge outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants to lay down their arms, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. But Ocalan demanded that he must have a direct contact with the PKK and his detention conditions must be improved, according to the paper. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised interview Friday that his agents were meeting with Ocalan, who is being held in solitary confinement on a remote island prison off Istanbul. "I cannot hold such meetings myself as a politician but the state has agents ... and they do (hold talks)," Erdogan told the state-run TRT television. "The meetings on the island are still under way because we must get a result. If we see a light (for a result), we continue to take steps," he said, referring to the meetings with Ocalan. Ankara initiated clandestine talks with the prominent figures of the rebel group in 2009 to negotiate peace, but the talks failed. The deadlock further increased the bloodshed in Turkey. Ocalan was charged with treason and sentenced to hang in 1999 but the sentence was commuted to life in prison in 2002 after Ankara abolished the death penalty. The fresh talks with Ocalan aim at laying down a timetable under which a declaration on ending the insurgency will be issued in the first months of 2013 and the PKK will start disarming, Hurriyet reported. Turkey had also talked with Ocalan to end a hunger strike of Kurdish prisoners in November. The prisoners were demanding a lifting of the ban on the use of the Kurdish language in courtrooms, as well as better conditions for Ocalan. Ocalan is allowed to have visits from his family, which relays his messages to the public, but his lawyers have been denied visits for almost two years, as Ankara accuses them of carrying messages to Kurdish rebel top brass. After a decade behind bars, Ocalan is still a respected figure for a majority of Turkey's Kurds, although his influence in the hawkish wings of the PKK is believed to have diminished. Ekurd.net |
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| Qandil | 2nd January 2013 - 03:23 AM Post #21 |
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Karayılan: We will never leave our country In a new year's massage released on Sterk TV, Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council President Murat Karayılan conveyed wishes of freedom, democracy and brotherhood of all peoples in Kurdistan and the Middle East. Karayılan evaluated 2012 as a year of resistance and achievement by the Kurdish people whose struggle in both political and diplomatic areas inside and outside Kurdistan defeated AKP government's policy aimed at eliminating Kurds, he underlined. Referring to the developments in West Kurdistan as of mid July, Karayılan commented the Kurdish revolution in this territory as a new page in the history of the Kurdish people. KCK President pointed out that no power will be able to prevent Kurdish people's fight for freedom or the reality of Kurdistan, noting that Kurds will take their place in the re-design process of the Middle East. Evaluating recent developments in Turkey, Karayılan called on AKP government to end monist policies which – he said- meant Turkification of people under compulsion. “The AKP government must accept the fact that this policy will not work, just like it has failed for the last 90 years”, he added. Responding to Turkish Prime Minister who has recently said that “PKK members can go to other countries after laying their arms down”, Karayılan evaluated Erdoğan's statement as an attack against the Kurdish people and their values and added; “Erdoğan must know that we are from Kurdistan, that we love this country and that we paid great prices for this country. In response to Erdoğan who offers two alternatives, either to become Turk and agree on a single nation or to leave the country, I say that it is him who must leave this territory which is Kurdistan and is our country. Everyone should know that guerrillas of the freedom movement and the resistance of the Kurdish people will remain alive as long as the armed repression and political slaughter of the Kurdish people continue.” Referring to the recently increasing smear campaign of the Turkish media against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), KCK President remarked that “We will not pull back from our fight but we will side with a solution through dialogue and negotiation if authorities recognize the Kurdish people, see their reality and end policies of occupation”. Source: http://en.firatajans.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5515 This message really made me proud to be a Kurd. kf
Edited by Qandil, 2nd January 2013 - 03:52 AM.
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| Qandil | 2nd January 2013 - 03:42 AM Post #22 |
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There are claims that Turkey used chemical weapons in an operation in Lice. If they did, good bye Turkey. |
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| Qandil | 2nd January 2013 - 03:43 AM Post #23 |
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Zumrut: There are claims as chemical weapons used in Lice The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakir Co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt said that there are claims as chemicals weapons were used in the operations in Lice district of Diyarbakir. “If chemical weapons were used, this is the crime of war. This is against international agreements,” stated. The Peace and Democracy Party Diyarbakir Provincal Organization made a pres releasement in front of provincal building about the the clashes in Lice. Lots of people among them the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakir Co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt, BDP PM members, provincal executives, Sur Mayor Abdullah Demirbas and lots of members of BDP participated into the pres releasements. People often shouted the slogans of “Murderer Erdogan”, “Long live Leader Apo” and “Martyrs do not die”. The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakir Co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt said that there are claims as chemicals weapons were used in the operations in Lice district of Diyarbakir. “If chemical weapons were used, this is the crime of war. This is against international agreements,” stated. Source: http://www.diclehaber.com/2/22/1/viewNews/335396 |
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| Qandil | 2nd January 2013 - 03:44 AM Post #24 |
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Claim of chemicals in lice operation Two members of HPG (People’s Defense Forces) lots their lives in the operation launched in the triangle of lice, Hani and Genc. Villagers making search in the region, stated that the smell of chemicals came from the some pusi (local clothes of Kurdish people), that related to HPG members. And also, villagers smelling the clothes had headaches and qualm. It has been stated that severe clashes broke out in rural areas near the district of Lice (Diyarbakır) following the operation Turkish military has launched in Lice, Hani, Genç region early on Monday morning. The expansive operation reportedly intensifies near the village of Şenlik and is supported by Skorsky and cobra type helicopters as well as a large number of gendarme and special operation police teams. Two members of HPG (People’s Defense Forces) lots their lives in the operation launched in the triangle of lice, Hani and Genc. Villagers making search in the region, stated that the smell of chemicals came from the some pusi (local clothes of Kurdish people), that related to HPG members. And also, villagers smelling the clothes had headaches and qualm. Source: http://www.diclehaber.com/2/22/1/viewNews/335359 |
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| Kulka Kurdayati | 2nd January 2013 - 11:13 AM Post #25 |
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bullshit
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“Erdoğan must know that we are from Kurdistan, that we love this country and that we paid great prices for this country. In response to Erdoğan who offers two alternatives, either to become Turk and agree on a single nation or to leave the country, I say that it is him who must leave this territory which is Kurdistan and is our country. Everyone should know that guerrillas of the freedom movement and the resistance of the Kurdish people will remain alive as long as the armed repression and political slaughter of the Kurdish people continue.”
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